Matching Items (8)
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- All Subjects: Agriculture
- Creators: Muenich, Rebecca
Description
Is there a mismatch between urban farmers’ perceptions of their farm’s environmental sustainability and its actual environmental impact? Focusing on the use of water and nutrients on each farm as described by the farmers through interviews, it is evident that there is some level of disconnect between ideals and practices. This project may aid in bridging the gap between the two in regard to the farmers’ sustainability goals. This project will move forward by continuing interviews with farmers as well as collecting soil and water from the farms in order to more accurately quantify the sustainability of the farms’ practices. This project demonstrates that there is some degree of misalignment between perception and reality. Two farms claimed they were sustainable when their practices did not reflect that, while 2 farms said they were not sure if they were sustainable when their practices indicated otherwise. Samples from two farms showed high concentrations of nutrients and salts, supporting the idea that there may be a mismatch between perceived and actual sustainability.
ContributorsBonham, Emma Eileen (Author) / Muenich, Rebecca (Thesis director) / Zanin, Alaina (Committee member) / Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Eng Program (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / School of Sustainable Engineering & Built Envirnmt (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
Intensified food production on large farms across the world has led to discussions on how to facilitate sustainable policies and practices to reduce nutrient pollution. In Chapter 1, I evaluated the co-variability of agricultural intensification, environmental degradation, and socio-economic indicators throughout the US to explore the potential evidence for the existence of sustainable intensification of agriculture in the US. I identified distinct agro-social-eco regions in the US that provide background for future regional studies of (sustainable intensification) SI in the US and beyond. I observed regions of moderate agricultural intensity and lower environmental degradation within the Great Plains, and regions of high agricultural intensity and higher environmental degradation throughout portions of the Midwest. Insights gained from this study can provide roadmaps for improved sustainable agricultural intensification within the US. In Chapter 2, the study summarized state regulations controlling a key nutrient input - the land application of biosolids from human wastewater treatment and manures from regulated animal feeding operations. Results indicate high variability of both manure and biosolids regulations among the states and stark differences in the regulation of land application of biosolids versus manures. This work can be used to identify opportunities for the strengthening of regulatory frameworks for managing these resources with minimal risk to the environment. In Chapter 3, I combined aspects of the previous chapters to understand the potential impact of specific CAFO land application regulations on nutrient pollution and assess if stricter regulations related to better environmental outcomes. I compared TN AND TP accumulated yields in surface waters across US States with state specific CAFO land application regulations across US Policy scenario tests revealed that more restrictions were associated with higher nutrient levels, indicating reactive policy making and delayed nonpoint source pollution responses. Overall, I found that fostering adaptive capacity and management within delineated agro-social-eco regions will likely facilitate sustainable food systems in the US.
ContributorsRauh, Eleanor (Author) / Muenich, Rebecca (Thesis advisor) / Compton, Jana (Committee member) / Parker, Nathan (Committee member) / Hamilton, Kerry (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
The United States Department of Agriculture provides requirements for a farm operation to become certified organic, but how do these regulations influence nutrient
management on organic farms? There is insufficient evidence to show if the current
regulations on nutrient sourcing and application are feasible and effective. An online
survey was administered to owners and operators of organic farms. Survey respondents
were offered a free soil test as an incentive to participate and to compare their practices
and soil quality. Assessing the current nutrient management under organic regulations
provides information to help assess the sustainability of their nutrient management
practices. Early data suggest that organic farmers may most often be overapplying and
creating legacy sources with this key resource.
ContributorsBonham, Emma Eileen (Author) / Muenich, Rebecca (Thesis advisor) / Zanin, Alaina (Committee member) / Williams, Clinton (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
In recent decades animal agriculture in the U.S. has moved from small, distributed operations to large, Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). CAFOs are defined by federal regulations based on animal numbers and confinement criteria. Because of the size of these operations, the excessive amount of manure generated is typically stored in lagoons, pits, or barns prior to field application or transport to other farms. Water quality near CAFOs can be impaired through the overflow of lagoons, storm runoff, or lagoon seepage. Assessing water quality impacts of CAFOs in a modeling framework has been difficult because of data paucity. A CAFO lagoon module was developed to assess lagoon overflow risk, groundwater quality, and ammonia emissions of a dairy lagoon. A groundwater quality assessment of a Dairy Lagoon in Lynden Washington was used to calibrate and validate the groundwater quality model. Groundwater down stream of the lagoon was negatively impaired. The long-term effects of this lagoon on water quality were explored as well as the effectiveness of improving the lagoon lining to reduce seepage. This model can be used to improve understanding of the impacts of CAFO lagoon seepage and develop sustainable management practices at the watershed scale for these key components of the agricultural landscape.
ContributorsRudko, Noah (Author) / Muenich, Rebecca (Thesis advisor) / Garcia, Margaret (Committee member) / Xu, Tianfang (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
To successfully launch and maintain a long-term colony on Mars, Martian agricultural systems need to be capable of sustaining human life without requiring expensive deliveries from Earth. There is a need for more studies on this topic to make this a feasible mission. This thesis aims to study from a high level one such agricultural system, specifically examining the requirements and flow of Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium required to sustain a given human colony size. We developed a Microsoft Excel based model that relates human nutritional needs to the amount available in food crops and in turn the amount of Martian soil required for agriculture. The model works by inputting the number of humans, and then utilizing the built-in calculations and datasets to determine how much of each nutrient is needed to meet all nutritional needs of the colony. Using that information, it calculates the amount of plants needed to supply the nutrition and then calculates the amount of nutrients that would be taken from the soil. It compares the Martian regolith to the nutrient uptake, accounting for inedible biomass from the plants and human waste that can be added to the regolith. Any deficiencies are used to determine if and how much fertilizer should be added to the system initially and over time. Using the total amount of plants and the number of harvests, the amount of Martian land required for sustaining the colony is computed. These results can be used as a building block to enable the successful design of an agricultural system on Mars.
ContributorsGarland, Michael (Co-author) / Zinke, Sarah (Co-author) / Muenich, Rebecca (Thesis director) / Perreault, Francois (Committee member) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Agriculture is the second largest water consumer in the Phoenix Metropolitan region, after the municipal sector. A significant portion of the cultivated land and agricultural water demand is from the production of animal feed, including alfalfa (~69% of total cropland area), corn (~8), and sorghum (-3%), which are both exported and needed to support local dairy industry. The goal of this thesis is to evaluate the impacts on water demand and crop production of four different crop portfolios using alfalfa, corn, sorghum, and feed barley. For this aim, the Water Evaluation And Planning (WEAP) platform and the embedded MABIA agronomic module are applied to the Phoenix Active Management Area (AMA), a political/hydrological region including most of Phoenix Metro. The simulations indicate that the most efficient solution is a portfolio where all study crop production is made up by sorghum, with an increase of 153% in crop yield and a reduction of 60% of water consumption compared to current conditions. In contrast, a portfolio where all study crop production is made up by alfalfa, which is primary crop grown in current conditions, decreased crop yield by 77% and increases water demand by 105%. Solutions where all study crop production is achieved with corn or feed barley lead to a reduction of 77% and 65% of each respective water demand, with a portfolio of all corn for study crop production increasing crop yield by 245% and a portfolio of all feed barley for study crop production reducing crop yield by 29%.
ContributorsRees, Kendall Marcella (Author) / Mascaro, Giuseppe (Thesis director) / Muenich, Rebecca (Committee member) / Chhetri, Netra (Committee member) / Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Eng Program (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
In 1996, I was born to two Filipino immigrants in El Paso, Texas. At the time, my father was in the process of completing his residency at the University of Texas, working strenuous 16-hour days almost every day as a fledgling resident physician. My mother was a full-time nurse then, working nightshifts to give her the freedom to tend to me during the day while my father was in training. Prior to their immigration to the United States under working visas in 1994, both of my parents came from families whose livelihood depended on agriculture. For my father, it was fishing, raising livestock, and tending to rice fields in a village called Siaton; for my mother, it was sugar cane processing and a family business of selling pigs in a town called Bogo. Despite facing many ups and downs along the way, these family occupations afforded my parents the opportunity to attend school from elementary to higher education. They eventually decided to pursue jobs in the health care industry so that they could immigrate to the United States, send money back to their loved ones in the Philippines, and provide a better life for the family they intended to start together.
ContributorsJumalon, Nikka Victoria (Author) / Shockley, Gordon (Thesis director) / White, Adrienne (Committee member) / School of Film, Dance and Theatre (Contributor) / College of Health Solutions (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Water is a scarce resource that is recycled through wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) to help fulfill the demand for water. Agriculture is a large consumer of water, indicating that WWTP-treated water is proportionally applied to crops at a high rate. Recycled water is highly regulated but is capable of containing high-risk pathogens and contaminants despite the efforts of physical and microbial treatments throughout the WWTP process. WWTPs are also producers of biosolids, treated sewage sludge regulated by the EPA that can be applied in agricultural settings to act as a fertilizer. Biosolids are a useful fertilizer as they are rich in nitrogen and contain many beneficial nutrients for soil and crops. Due to biosolids being a by-product of recycled water, they are susceptible to containing the same pathogens and contaminants that can be transferred in the WWTP systems. Antibiotic resistance (AR) is an ever-growing threat on a global scale and is one of the areas of concern for consideration of pathogen spread from WWTPs. Antibiotic resistance bacteria, created through mutation of bacterial plasmids producing antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), have been quantified and studied to help mitigate the risk posed by continued AR spread in the environment. This study aims to produce a comprehensive collection of quantified ARG concentration data in biosolids, as well as producing a QMRA model integrating Monte Carlo distributions to provide groundwork for understanding of the direct dosage and consumption of ARGs to the standard U.S. citizen. The study determined that sul1, sul2, tetM, and tetO are ARGs of high concern in biosolid samples based on current concentration data of biosolid samples. The resulting dose models and gene concentration distributions provide data to support the need to mitigate AR risk presented by agricultural biosolid application.
ContributorsMorgan, Grace (Author) / Hamilton, Kerry (Thesis director) / Muenich, Rebecca (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor)
Created2022-05